I used to play Heroes of Hellas quite a bit back in the day. After a few drive upgrades later, I sort of lost the game, and never got a new copy. I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of sequels has been made since then. Heroes of Hellas 2: Olympia goes much further in depth than the original, and we are doing so much more than merely hunting down heroes to help us in a quest. Anyone who loves classical mythology and legends should give this a try. Our new challenge is to build a grand city from the town of Olympia. It is the one bright spot in Greece that was not destroyed when a vicious demon escaped from Tartarus. So not only are we hunting new heroes, we are also getting help from the gods and titans as refugees come to Olympia to forge out a new life. With every new puzzle, comes a new challenge, so it is never the same puzzle twice. You play in a match 3 mode at the start, but later on things become vastly different. There are new tools added as you gain new heroes, as well. Read more...(306 words, 31 images, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

I’m finding a new kind of respect for HdO games as they take on most of our favourite classic books and bring them to life as hidden object mystery games. Around the World in Eighty Days: The Challenge is by far the most fun I have had with one of these games, even though, like many of these game, the logic puzzle aspect can be a bit frustrating, because if you miss one little thing, the puzzle is reset, and you have to start over. Although Around the World in Eighty Days: The Challenge is not nearly as much fun as the latest film version of this classic tale, it remains true to the book. The last film version to stay as close to the story as this was the Around the World in 80 Days (Miniseries) starring Pierce Brosnan as Phineas Fogg. If you like casual games with a classic steampunk adventure twist, then Around the World in Eighty Days: The Challenge will more than satisfy, and with it being an HdO game, if you have ever played one of these before, you will pretty much know the formula that is used to play. The graphics are bright, the object easy to find with subtle clues, and the background noise authentic to the setting of the book. If you are a fan of Jules Verne’s work, then you must give Around the World in Eighty Days: The Challenge a try.

Unlike many other hidden object mystery – logic puzzle games, F.A.C.E.S. is bright and easy to see, yet still keeps its dark theme throughout. The story starts out when we see an artist with a special gift being experimented on in an old asylum. This young lady has a psychic gift to jump into places that she sees in photographs, and bring objects out of it. When she is being held by the scientists, they make her go into what looks like a picture of a museum and retrieve a huge ruby that is under laser security. They send her back to her cell, and there you start looking for clues to get out of what started out as an innocent medical consultation about psychic abilities. Read more...(381 words, 31 images, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

There is an unknown town at the bottom of the sea known as Coral Bay, and the New Anemone Orphanage is in danger of being torn down due to some “beautification projects” by some local fatcats that look like sharks and barracudas. That is the main story and challenge of Tales of Lagoona: Orphans of the Ocean. It is up to us to help Islabelle, the mermaid director of the orphanage to find items in the place to sell to spruce up the place so it can stay open. We get challenges from all kinds of sea creatures in puzzles to find even more items to sell, and in searching for gems, we can open up old rooms in the orphanage and even more items to sell. The old place starts to look like its name soon, and the sharks and barracudas will find their way barred by the old residents of the orphanage and Islabelle. The logic puzzle challenges range from easy to difficult, typical puzzles we find most of these hidden object mysteries. The only true flaw I found with this cute game was the sound. It was very lacking, and what little music there was was dreamy and too relaxing. It was hard to concentrate due to the overly easy listening nature of the music, and if it were not for the thunderstorms booming over my house when I was playing this game, I might have not bothered with it. So, keep some rockin tunes going behind you when you play Tales of Lagoona: Orphans of the Ocean, and you should do just fine.

3D Knifflis : The Whole World in 3D! is as purely puzzling as it gets. Match 3, coffeehouse mahjongg, sudoku, and many more. It’s every logic puzzle you can think of with all the tools to make them run smoother like hammers to knock out blocks, lighting bolts to take out random blocks, swaps to offer up more moves and bombs to move the blocks along. There are even swap out picture puzzles that give you a view in 3D, but it uses that old 1890s tri-colour technology, so don’t make your eyes water trying to see it that way. Just focus on the puzzle play itself. It is very challenging, and you might breeze through some levels and be grinding on others. You never really know what to expect in this puzzler. Getting to the picture puzzles is worth the fun, and if you want to see some great graphics throughout your game, then 3D Knifflis just won’t let you down. Puzzling simplicity for those who like brainy games, and enough bright graphics to keep it interesting. The sound score is rather bland and flat, but this is purely left brain activity, so you don’t even really need the sound. Game on! with 3D Knifflis : The Whole World in 3D!